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Breaking News in Tech, Search, Social, & BusinessTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:05:26 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.1Kim Dotcom Gets The OK To Sue New Zealand’s Spy Agencyhttp://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-gets-the-ok-to-sue-new-zealands-spy-agency-2012-12
http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-gets-the-ok-to-sue-new-zealands-spy-agency-2012-12#commentsThu, 06 Dec 2012 16:07:18 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=205901If anything, you have to agree that Kim Dotcom is tenacious. He’s fought every challenge that has come his way since having his Web site and livelihood seized by feds in January. Now he’s just received clearance to launch a lawsuit that could have some very heavy implications.

Back in September, it was revealed that Dotcom was subject to illegal surveillance at the hands of New Zealand’s GCSB – the country’s equivalent of the CIA. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key at the time said he was not aware of the spy agency’s actions and would open a full investigation into the issue.

Fast forward to now where the courts have given Dotcom the OK to file a lawsuit against the GCSB. The interesting part is that the High Court has ordered the spy agency to reveal the details of its electronic spying setup in court. The order also requires the spy agency to reveal which nations it handed the info over to. It could very well reveal that the GCSB was handing over Dotcom’s information to US authorities before the raid on his mansion in January that was conducted by the local police and the FBI.

Obviously, the government opposes the court order on the grounds that info from GCSB being made public could pose a national security risk. The judge in the case will hand the information to a third party who will verify which information is relevant to the case.

Like always, Kim Dotcom has something to say, and he says it via Twitter. This time, he seems pretty confident that he’ll beat the spy agency in court with unnamed evidence that he’s gathered.

Aside from suing New Zealand’s spy agency, Dotcom will also be launching the new Mega in January on the anniversary of the police raid that took Megaupload down. The new domain hit a few snags at first, but now it’s ready to go.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-gets-the-ok-to-sue-new-zealands-spy-agency-2012-12/feed1Kim Dotcom Moves Megaupload Reboot To .NZ Domainhttp://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-moves-megaupload-reboot-to-nz-domain-2012-11
http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-moves-megaupload-reboot-to-nz-domain-2012-11#commentsMon, 12 Nov 2012 14:33:41 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=202053Kim Dotcom has some lofty goals for Mega, the reboot of Megaupload. To accomplish these goals, he had to move to a domain that couldn’t be easily suspended by the US government. Turns out his first move to Me.ga, a domain under the jurisdiction of Gabon, was suspended by the Gabonese government. Now he’s trying his luck back home.

Dotcom announced a few hours ago via Twitter that the new Mega will be launching on his home country’s domain at mega.co.nz.

The site looks exactly the same as it did on me.ga. Dotcom is still looking for investors, hosting partners and Mega API partners. He is also still hoping to launch the site on January 19, the one-year anniversary of the raid on his home that led to his arrest and the shutdown of Megaupload and related services like Megavideo.

Now it’s time to play the waiting game, and see if the New Zealand government cracks down on the Mega.co.nz domain. Dotcom blamed Gabon’s swift suspension of the domain on interference from Vivendi and the US government. He’s also been adamant that certain players within New Zealand’s government have thrown him to the dogs, but the courts have largely been on his side. Any attempt to suspend the Mega.co.nz domain will most likely result in legal proceedings that Dotcom is likely to win based on precedent.

In other news, Dotcom is apparently disappointed in the latest Call of Duty – Black Ops 2. His opinion should hold more weight than most as he was at one time the number one ranked player in the world in Modern Warfare 3.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-moves-megaupload-reboot-to-nz-domain-2012-11/feed2Kim Dotcom Details The Return Of Megauploadhttp://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-details-the-return-of-megaupload-2012-08
http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-details-the-return-of-megaupload-2012-08#commentsTue, 28 Aug 2012 13:27:09 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=189133The old Megaupload is dead. Even if Kim Dotcom wins every court case and has the site returned to him, it would be fairly useless. That’s why the Megaupload founder is planning on launching a new Megaupload later this year. We knew it was coming, but we didn’t know any details until today’s announcement.

Like with all major announcements, Dotcom took to Twitter to detail the second coming of Megaupload. It’s ambitious, innovative and could possibly change file sharing forever if the service does half of what Dotcom claims.

Looking beyond the claims of changing the world, the details revealed today show a Megaupload that would be immune to pretty much all law enforcement. For one, Dotcom won’t allow U.S.-based hosters to connect to the network. The U.S. authorities claim that Megaupload was under their jurisdiction, despite the company being based in Hong Kong, because they leased some servers in Virginia.

The second part of that tweet – “hosters will be able to connect servers and bandwidth” – is the most exciting part. The new Megaupload won’t just be hosted by servers contracted out by Dotcom and his company. Anybody can offer storage on the new Megaupload and will probably be compensated quite graciously for their contributions. It would also protect Megaupload from being shut down as the site can be offloaded onto other servers if one is taken down.

Finally, the one-click encryption would make sure that anybody monitoring the networks wouldn’t know who was uploading what. Granted, the authorities could use decryption software, but Dotcom may be using a new form of encryption that’s not easily breakable. Either way, users of the new Megaupload would be able to upload anything with peace of mind that their IP and files would be unknown to any prying eyes.

If Dotcom can pull this off, the new Megaupload just might change the world of file sharing. It will be interesting to see if the U.S. makes any statement regarding the relaunch of Megaupload as a new anonymous service that might even be more secure than torrents.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-details-the-return-of-megaupload-2012-08/feed1Judge Declares Megaupload Searches Illegalhttp://www.webpronews.com/judge-declares-megaupload-searches-illegal-2012-06
http://www.webpronews.com/judge-declares-megaupload-searches-illegal-2012-06#commentsThu, 28 Jun 2012 10:17:38 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=176938New Zealand’s High Court has declared that the warrants used to justify the January 19th raid on Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom’s were illegat. The court also ruled that it was illegal for copies of Dotcom’s hard drive to be removed from New Zealand to the U.S.

In the judgment, which is embedded below, Justice Helen Winkelmann ruled that the search warrants were far too broad to be valid. New Zealand law does not permit the issuing of general search warrants. Warrants must be specific in regards to both the nature of the suspected criminal offenses and the articles to be seized. The lack of specificity regarding the offenses and the items to be seized, along with the failure to stipulate that Dotcom was being accused of crimes under American law are symptomatic of “the lack of precision infecting the entirety of the warrants.” As such, “[t]hese were general warrants both in form and reality,” making them illegal under New Zealand law.

Justice Winkelmann also ruled that the transfer of copies of Dotcom’s seized hard drives to the FBI was illegal. New Zealand law requires authorities to retain all items seized until they receive written direction from the Attorney-General regarding what to do with them. Justice Winkelmann ruled that the files on the seized hard drives “are part of the relevant hard drive,” meaning that “the release of cloned hard drives to the FBI for shipping to the United States was contrary” to New Zealand law.

Justice Winkelmann concluded by ordering that cloned copies of the hard drives be returned to Dotcom and his co-defendants “forthwith.”

All in all, this looks like a pretty big victory for Dotcom and the others arrested during the January raid. Meanwhile, U.S. authorities continue to resist returning Megaupload users’ data to them, while making it as difficult as possible for Dotcom’s U.S.-based attorneys to mount a defense.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/judge-declares-megaupload-searches-illegal-2012-06/feed1FBI Ordered To Start Copying Kim Dotcom’s Data For Potential Returnhttp://www.webpronews.com/fbi-ordered-to-start-copying-kim-dotcoms-data-for-potential-return-2012-06
http://www.webpronews.com/fbi-ordered-to-start-copying-kim-dotcoms-data-for-potential-return-2012-06#commentsFri, 15 Jun 2012 15:35:56 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=170767]]>Things are yet again looking up for ol’ Kim Dotcom. It was only a few weeks ago that the New Zealand High Court ordered the FBI to hand over all the evidence they have against him. Dotcom’s other request to have his personal data returned may be awarded to him as well.

The NZHerald is reporting that New Zealand High Court Justice Helen Winkelman has ordered that the FBI begin copying the 150TB worth of data they took from Dotcom’s home back in January. The data comes from over 130 computers and hard drives that Dotcom personally owned to run Megaupload. The information contained on those hard drives are essential to mounting a defense against the ever weakened attacks from the U.S. government against Megaupload.

While it’s another potential win for Dotcom, it may still not pan out for him. The court order was just for the FBI to start copying the data which means they get to keep copies as well for their own investigation and prosecution. A separate trial will be required to determine whether or not Dotcom actually gets access to the data.

As usual, the U.S. complained about the order saying that Dotcom shouldn’t be allowed access to this information until he’s in U.S. court. That essentially means that U.S. doesn’t want Dotcom to have anything in his defense during his extradition trial.

We’ve heard that argument before, however, so the government came up with a new one. They also said that they don’t have the resources or the time to copy the 150TB of data in the 21-day period provided by the judge. They went on to claim that it took them 10 days to just copy 29TB of data.

The New Zealand court wasn’t having any of it though. According to NZHerald, Justice Winkelmann told the U.S. government, “The expense involved in copying must be dwarfed by the other costs of an investigative and prosecutorial operation of this site.” Essentially, Justice Winkelmann told the U.S. to stop bitching and just copy the data.

Once again, we don’t know if Dotcom will actually get his data back, but the news is encouraging. If he can keep up his recent string of wins, Megaupload and Dotcom may both have charges dropped against them.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/fbi-ordered-to-start-copying-kim-dotcoms-data-for-potential-return-2012-06/feed0U.S. Doesn’t Want Megaupload Users Getting Their Data Backhttp://www.webpronews.com/u-s-doesnt-want-megaupload-users-getting-their-data-back-2012-06
http://www.webpronews.com/u-s-doesnt-want-megaupload-users-getting-their-data-back-2012-06#commentsMon, 11 Jun 2012 15:53:19 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=168085The MPAA shocked everybody last week when they said they would be fine with Megaupload users getting access to their legitimate files. They wouldn’t help those people get back their data, but they wouldn’t be opposed to them getting it back either. Too bad the United States doesn’t want them getting back any data whatsoever.

Why would a man getting back his legitimate content set a bad precedent? The U.S. believes that granting Goodwin his request would allow anybody to petition the courts whenever a search warrant adversely affects them. The U.S. is essentially saying that Goodwin’s data was collateral damage and that he has no right to petition for its return.

The U.S. has another far more ridiculous reason for not returning Goodwin his data as well. They feel that giving Goodwin his data back would allow Megaupload to retrieve data that they need to formulate a defense. The MPAA, in their statement, also said that any solution that would get legitimate users their data back would need to prevent Megaupload from getting any data from it.

The U.S. isn’t completely devoid of sympathy for the man who lost all of his recorded videos of high sporting events that was the core of his business. The government suggests that Goodwin just sue Megaupload and Carpathia for restitution instead.

It’s absolutely mind blowing that the U.S. would suggest that Goodwin sue these two companies when the fault of his losing data falls squarely on the backs of the U.S. for illegally seizing Megaupload’s servers. The U.S. court in the case may soon throw out the case due to the numerous flaws in the government’s argument against the file sharing company. If that happens, Goodwin may have a chance at suing the U.S. government for destroying his data in an illegal seizure.

The Megaupload saga just keeps on getting more interesting. We’ll keep you updated on any developments in the case. I feel like we’re almost at the end where the court will either upheld the government’s accusations or drop the case over what has been a bumbled attack on a foreign company outside of U.S. jurisdiction.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/u-s-doesnt-want-megaupload-users-getting-their-data-back-2012-06/feed1Kim Dotcom Awarded Access To Evidence Against Himhttp://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-awarded-access-to-evidence-against-him-2012-05
http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-awarded-access-to-evidence-against-him-2012-05#commentsWed, 30 May 2012 14:18:30 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=163106Kim Dotcom has a reason to be happy today. Sure, he’s scored some minor winshere and there, but he’s never scored a big win in his case against the American government. Today is that big win.

According to TorrentFreak, the New Zealand judge in the Megaupload case, David Harvey, ruled that the U.S. must hand over any and all evidence it has against Dotcom and Megaupload. When the judge says evidence, he really means all the evidence. Not only must the U.S. hand over the evidence that they have in New Zealand, but also all evidence that the FBI has obtained.

As always, the U.S. objected to the ruling by saying Dotcom doesn’t have the right to view the evidence against him during the extradition process. Disagreeing with that, Judge Harvey ruled that Dotcom has a right to mount a proper defense against the accusations levied against him.

Judge Harvey also made some interesting comments in regards to the case that are worth pointing out as well. He says that the U.S. is trying to apply civil copyright laws to a criminal copyright case. All of the other charges that have been brought against Dotcom rest on whether or not they can prove that Dotcom has indeed violated copyright. The weird mash-up of civil and criminal copyright law makes the case that much harder to actually rule on.

The U.S. has 21 days to hand over the evidence it has against Dotcom. From that point, he will probably start preparing his defense. Dotcom has been confident that he will prove the charges levied against him are insubstantial.

TorrentFreak was kind enough to upload the entire 81-page court document. It’s a fascinating read about copyright law and how the Megaupload case has been handled thus far:

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-awarded-access-to-evidence-against-him-2012-05/feed0Kim Dotcom Using Passwords As Bargaining Chipshttp://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-using-passwords-as-bargaining-chips-2012-05
http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-using-passwords-as-bargaining-chips-2012-05#commentsWed, 23 May 2012 16:12:29 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=160701It’s been relatively quiet on the MegaUpload front recently. After a U.S. judge said that the trial may not even happen, it seemed that all the parties seemed to have just given up. It appears that is not the case as Kim Dotcom is now fighting for the return of his computers and hard drives.

TorrentFreak is reporting that Dotcom has requested a judicial review of the search warrants that were used against him back in January. The legality of the search warrant was already brought into question before, but the police filed the proper warrant. The result was that Dotcom got back some of his money, but he’s now fighting to get back something more important – evidence.

Dotcom’s defense argued that the hard drives and computers are needed to mount a proper defense against the forces that seek to extradite him to the U.S. He also wants to use the information to prove that the police used excessive force against him in the raid that he claimed left him with a bleeding hand from a ruptured fingernail.

As always, the U.S. doesn’t want Dotcom to have any chance of a fair fight. Their new tactic is saying that the existence of encrypted files on the hard drives means that he must be hiding something. Dotcom claims that he isn’t and is happy to show the authorities what is behind those encrypted files. The catch? They have to return the computers and he will supply the passwords. No computers means no passwords.

In more troubling news, the New Zealand court had reportedly assured Dotcom’s defense in the past that the information on the hard drives would not be sent to the U.S. without prior warning. It was revealed during the hearing that the New Zealand authorities had already been sending all the information to the U.S. without telling anyone.

The concern now is that New Zealand will send the hard drives to the U.S. effectively removing them from New Zealand jurisdiction. It’s all part of the conspiracy that Dotcom has been talking about for months now as he believes the U.S. is cooperating with the copyright industry to bring him down as a personal favor. He believes that the record industry was scared of the competition that Dotcom would bring to the table with his music service instead of any legitimate complaints of copyright infringement.

All of this was just too much for Dotcom as he reportedly had an emotional breakdown in the courtroom. He said that having to relive those days when he was torn away from his family were “unfair and over the top.”

Now everything is up to the judge in the case to decide if Dotcom should get his belongings back. This case has been all over the place so it’s hard to say what will happen. We’ll hopefully know within the next few weeks. Until then, we’ll keep you updated on any other developments in the MegaUpload Saga.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-using-passwords-as-bargaining-chips-2012-05/feed0Kim Dotcom To Have $750,000 Returned To Himhttp://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-to-have-750000-returned-to-him-2012-04
http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-to-have-750000-returned-to-him-2012-04#commentsSun, 29 Apr 2012 15:32:57 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=147286We brought you word a few months ago that Kim Dotcom, founder of Megaupload, was on his way to getting some of his possessions back. It seems that the news has finally become reality as Dotcom had about $750,000 worth of possessions returned to him.

Stuff is reporting that the New Zealand High Court has agreed to return some money to Dotcom and his family in the form of a bank account worth $301,000, a Mercedes Benz worth $250,000 and he retains his $20,000 a month spending budget. Unfortunately, the court mostly sided with the District Court so that Dotcom won’t be seeing the majority of his funds returned to him. His other belongings could be held by the authorities for up to two years as Dotcom’s extradition case is heard.

Dotcom’s wife will also see some benefits from the ruling. She will be getting a monthly allowance, money for her medical bills and a car for personal transportation. When Dotcom was waiting to get out on bail, he argued that he wanted to get out to help his wife who was pregnant. The extra money should definitely help in that respect.

In other possible good news for Dotcom, the judge in the case said that he could bring further legal action to see more of his belongings returned to him. Dotcom’s lawyers are arguing that New Zealand should investigate whether or not the restraining order against his property should even be honored. While the court said that they don’t have to see if the order from the U.S. is legitimate, the door is open for further legal action.

All of this would be for naught, however, if Dotcom is extradited. The current extradition hearing is scheduled for September. At that time, it will be decided if Dotcom actually committed an offense worthy of being extradited over. According to Dotcom’s lawyer, Ira Rothken, he’s confident that they will have a “good result in New Zealand.”

This comes on the news that there might not even be a case against Megaupload. The U.S. judge in the case against MegaUpload said that the FBI never properly filed a criminal complaint against the company. If this is the case, the trial might never happen. Of course, Dotcom feels that the damage has already been done and that he’s now fighting to reveal what he feels was a conspiracy against him backed by Hollywood and the U.S. government. I’m sure having the extra money is definitely going to help with that.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-to-have-750000-returned-to-him-2012-04/feed2Megaupload Data Negotiations Begin April 26http://www.webpronews.com/megaupload-data-negotiations-begin-april-26-2012-04
http://www.webpronews.com/megaupload-data-negotiations-begin-april-26-2012-04#commentsMon, 23 Apr 2012 14:37:12 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=143314We brought you word yesterday that the U.S. government may not have a case against file-sharing service Megaupload due to a “procedural error.” If this is true, Megaupload could be potentially let off the hook. There still remains the problem of the Megaupload data that Carpathia is hosting.

If you recall, the judge in the case told all the interested parties that they had to negotiate over what would happen to the data. This is because Carpathia can’t be responsible for the data forever and it’s costing them an arm and a leg just to keep the data. This could have been easily solved if it weren’t for the U.S. government interfering in the deal where Megaupload would buy the data off of Carpathia.

BBC is reporting that lawyers for Megaupload and the U.S. government are going to meet on April 26 to start negotiations on what should happen to the data. The news states that it’s only these two parties even though the MPAA and the EFF both have stakes in the fate of the data as well.

To recap, the U.S. government doesn’t want Megaupload to have access to their data. Kim Dotcom says it’s because the U.S. wants to deny his company the right to a fair trial. With all the weird claims and reasons as to why Dotcom shouldn’t have access to the data including claims of chid porn, it almost seems like the U.S. does have it in for ol’ Dotcom and company.

As for the other parties, the EFF wants to have the data returned to the legitimate users who have lost access to all of their data. It’s easy to forget with everything else going on, but there were plenty of small businesses and independent users who relied upon Megaupload’s services.

The MPAA wants the data retained, but not given back, for use in potential lawsuits. They feel that if the data is given back that people will use the data to pirate its studios’ content. It seems almost ridiculous that they think retaining Megaupload’s data will prevent piracy when it has already been proven that this is not the case.

Once again, the legality of the current charges brought against Megaupload are suspect. The negotiations are going to proceed, but I’m sure they will pull back if it turns out that the U.S. doesn’t have a case against Megaupload. While the damage has already been done and Dotcom is furious, he still plans on fighting to unveil what he feels is a conspiracy against his company.